Montreal Street is home to lots of automotive businesses: body shops, garages and auto supply houses. Now that I'd moved the Swamp Ward house over to Wellington Street, I had a vacancy on Montreal. One day, driving past Madeley Automotive on Bath Road, I noticed that it was a characteristic garage that would provide a plausible prototype. Trying to keep my pandemic projects affordable (if not profitable!) I recycled this structural flat into this garage:
A train show-find Durango enginehouse, I'd turned the enginehouse inside out. It was a structural flat on my Vancouver (Vancouver Iron & Engineering Works) and Vermont layout iterations, early on this layout it was Presland Iron & Steel. It's grey exterior now became the garage's interior. The wainscoting on the exterior became the cladding, and I built up the front, while fireside:
I recycled some factory windows into the waiting room/counter. After trying a couple of colour combos, I went with a medium blue/light blue. The roof was a kit floor turned into a roof, with stacks and exhausts added:
Building up the garage door (always rolled up so far) dividers, I started adding signage. All these are copied/pasted/printed from the internet:
The main signs are from this archival photo of a 1952 trade show held, appropriately, at the Montreal Street Armouries, sharpened and coloured:
Front view. Notice the all-important Motor Vehicle Inspection Station green sign (still unilingual in my era). The above-door signs can still be seen at King Street Auto Centre on Days Road!
There are two photos of Provincial Tire operations in Kingston in the Queen's University Archives. Above Provincial/Dominion in January, 1949 (above) and a different location in June, 1951. Check out that pickup and service van. And the signage!
In place on the layout edge. You'll notice the garage bays actually open to the rear. Otherwise, all you'd see is the back of the garage and I so badly wanted to include those King Street Auto Centre signs, so this shop has rear access:
I built the tire rack from strip styrene and inaccurate Matchbox-style tires removed from improved vehicles. Along the street views:
A little scenicking-in needs to be done:
Can I bring my car in tomorrow so you can put the snow tires on?
ReplyDeleteI also need an oil change and a minor tune up.
Good one! That reminds me...I need to model a hoist. I may just glue a car to it, of course in the 'up' position.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the request/reminder, Rob!
Eric
The only thing missing in the picture are the stacks of scab tires (the offtakes) that usually accumulate . Maybe they're out of frame? But I can certainly smell fresh rubber.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point, John. I have limited space available there. I've placed a small dumpster there, and need to do final scenicking. What about a pile of torched-off exhaust systems, too?
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely a busy garage in a busy spot. I have more of those toy-car tires to built vertical stacks out of!
Thanks for your comment,
Eric